Environment news

• Our climate is changing rapidly – and our politicians sound increasingly surreal | Zoe Williams

  24-08-2026 17:17 via theguardian.com
  On a panel show last week, everyone in the audience wanted to talk about the climate emergency, but the lines rolled out by a Tory MP simply dissolved on contact with realityAs it is August, and everyone with stronger opinions is currently on holiday, last week I went on Any Questions?, the BBC Radio 4 panel show. I had prepared beforehand with a friend whose life’s work it is to make sure people don’t say anything stupid on the radio (or TV), and we’d talked about everything &
  
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• How growing up in ‘Chemical Valley’ inspired lawyer to sue industry she used to work for

  24-08-2026 14:00 via theguardian.com
  Hélène Duguy is taking on companies accused of failing to stop Pfas pollution in the area of France she calls homeThe factories were just part of the landscape for Hélène Duguy growing up in the heart of an area known as France’s “Chemical Valley”.“Those factories are visible from my mother’s apartment,” says Duguy, 34, whose mother still lives in St-Genis-Laval, south of Lyon. Continue reading...
  
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• Devastation, doubt and blame: Hurricane Helene looms over North Carolina’s US Senate race

  24-08-2026 12:00 via theguardian.com
  The Democratic and the Republican candidate each blame the other for the bungled recovery effort after storm struck regionTwo years after North Carolina suffered the worst natural disaster in its history when Hurricane Helene struck the state’s western half, life in the hardest-hit areas appears back to normal. Downtowns are lively, blocked roads have been reopened and rivers are flowing below their banks.But the telltale evidence of the disaster’s expensive impacts can still be seen
  
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• This is not a natural calamity: it is being done to us knowingly

  24-08-2026 11:45 via theguardian.com
  Global heating is an outrage, not a tragedy. We deserve the facts about the climate crisis – I choose the Guardian because it’s one of the few places left to share them honestlyClimate campaign 2026: help us reach 30,000 acts of supportWell, there’s no getting around it now. What many of us once feared has become a reality.The dangerous conditions climate scientists long warned of have become our common, if deeply unwelcome, experience, and season by season, our acquaintance wi
  
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• Can Burnham justify giving the go ahead to oil drilling? Yes, but these must be the conditions | Michael Jacobs

  24-08-2026 11:00 via theguardian.com
  Carbon capture and storage could make the Rosebank site compatible with UK net zero commitments – if its owners are willing to pay the priceThe British government must soon decide whether it should give consent to two oil and gasfields, Rosebank in the North Atlantic and Jackdaw in the North Sea. Amid both insecurity of energy supplies and deadly evidence of the climate crisis, the prime minister, Andy Burnham, is facing pressure from the oil and gas industry and unions on one side, and en
  
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• No fridge, no fans, just blocks of ice: improvising to survive in Pakistan’s searing heat

  24-08-2026 10:00 via theguardian.com
  With limited electricity and poor ventilation, many families in Nasirabad have little to shield them from temperatures of up to 50CAs the first light reaches Nasirabad, a queue of men, women and children has already formed outside the town’s ice factory, with their buckets, sacks and plastic containers. Among those hoping to buy some ice to help their families endure another scorching day is 12-year-old Taimoor, in his school uniform. He says it is his most important task of the day.&ldquo
  
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• How do you vaccinate 1,000 tiny penguins against bird flu in the wild? It’s ‘really tricky’ but there is a way

  24-08-2026 08:11 via theguardian.com
  Phillip Island’s ‘iconic’ little penguins get first bird flu vaccinations in what is thought to be largest program of its kindFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMore than 1,000 little penguins have received their first dose of bird flu vaccine in Victoria, in what is believed to be the world’s largest vaccination program involving wild birds.Catherine Basterfield, the chief executive of Phillip
  
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• Wild beaver kits born in Norfolk for first time in more than 500 years

  24-08-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Pair are offspring of two beavers who mysteriously arrived in Pensthorpe nature reserve near Fakenham in DecemberWild beaver kits have been born in Norfolk for the first time in more than 500 years.The pair of newborns are the offspring of two free-living beavers who mysteriously arrived in Pensthorpe nature reserve near Fakenham in December. Continue reading...
  
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• Air conditioning push favoured over emissions cuts in six European nations, survey finds

  24-08-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Poll also finds sizeable majorities who believe it should be easier to install air con in homesGiven the choice, more people across six major European nations including the UK favour encouraging the adoption of air conditioning over keeping carbon emissions down, a survey has found.After four extreme heatwaves that have caused thousands of excess deaths across the continent, the survey showed between 30% and 52% of people in six countries had feared for their household’s health in temperat
  
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• Country diary: South Wales’s summer of fires will linger long in the memory | Eben Muse

  24-08-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Tylorstown, Rhondda Valley: These coal areas are shaped by fire and ash. I find a high point to try and survey the damageMy friend John and I are climbing Tylorstown Tip – a summit also known as Old Smokey, named after the hot ash it was partly made with. We want to see how much of south Wales has burned.The tip towers over the surrounding hills, a perfect crow’s nest from which to witness the blackening of the region. From the summit, with its sitka spruce and flowering heather, the
  
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